Should high school football games be televised live?

Television stations can have pre-game shows and post-games shows, and highlights too, of course.

But no Friday night lights in prime time, though Saturday games are OK.

Whaddya think about that?

Is it an outdated rule that’s no longer relevent?

Would a change reduce attendance at Friday games or bring more followers to a team?

Would it put even more pressure on teams and coaches to win at all costs?

Would it be unfair to smaller schools that probably won’t get air time?

If you have a comment on this or any other editorial topic, post it below now!

HOUSTON CHRONICLE STORY ON EXPANDED COVERAGE OF HIGH SCHOOL GAMES BY FOX SPORTS NET:

By David Barron, July 23

The Big 12 has put the kibosh, for the moment, on high school football games for ESPN’s Longhorn Network, but Fox Sports Net is moving full steam ahead with a six-hour high school block on Friday nights that will include the equivalent of NFL Network’s RedZone channel.

FSN’s Football Friday will include a 30-minute live pregame from the site of a marquee game, a three-hour whiparound show with highlights and updates from as many as 40 games around the state, a live postgame at 10:30 p.m., a regional roundup at 11 p.m., and the long-running High School Scoreboard at midnight.

“It’s an ambitious project,” said Jon Heidtke, general manager of FS Southwest.

“But we think it’s a good step to give sports fans access to the teams that they are following most closely.”

Football Friday, staged in conjunction with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, will be hosted by Austin sportscaster Jeff Power and Travis Stewart, Texas Football’s managing editor. The site schedule will be announced next week at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention.

It won’t be entirely analogous to Red-Zone in that there will be no live action, owing to the University Interscholastic League’s rule against live Friday night football broadcasts.